Bing! vs. Bing

Looks like more lawyer fees for super-litigious Microsoft. The software goliath
is being sued for trademark infringement by a small Missouri company
over the word "Bing." The St. Louis-based graphic design firm
registered the trademark "Bing!" in 2000, long before Microsoft
launched its search engine of the same name (minus the exclamation
point of course). The firm says "Microsoft's use of
the name dilutes the value of it and confuses the public about the
companies' relationship to each other." It wants to sue for "actual and punitive damages including having
Microsoft pay for corrective advertising to remedy the confusion it
caused."

We believe this suit to be without merit and
we do not believe there is any confusion in the marketplace with regard
to the complainant's offerings and Microsoft's Bing. We have not been served with a complaint, but
are aware of the suit based on media reports. We respect trademarks and
other people's intellectual property, and look forward to the next
steps in the judicial process.

Tech bloggers have responded to the news with a playful curiosity:

Tut-Tut, rebukes Ernie Smith at Short Form Blog: "Microsoft appar­ently doesn't check trade­marks before they go with names."

Finally Someone Sues Microsoft, writes a facetious Sebastian Anthony at Download Squad: "It's the kind of news that warms me in both weird and wonderful ways.
First, it reminds us all that capitalism is working as intended -- then it
also reminds me just how much I love living in a non-litigious country
like the United Kingdom. Bing!(tm) isn't even in the same sector as the
same-sans-exclamation-named search engine -- they do graphic frickin' design."

Can Little Bing! Pull This Off? wonders Emil Protalinski at Ars Technica: "When it comes to trademarks, two companies in completely different
markets are typically allowed to use the same name. Still, the design
firm's slogan is apparently 'We make complex ideas easy to understand'
so maybe they'll pull it off."